![Image (1) coral-reef.JPG for post 32085](http://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/coral-reef.jpg?w=470)
Coral of an unknown provenance.
Optimists look at the Great Barrier Reef and see it half-full of coral.
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985, according to a new study published Monday. The loss has been spurred by a combination of factors including hurricanes, coral-eating starfish and coral bleaching.
The paper, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the most comprehensive survey of a reef system over such a long period. The researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science found that reef cover fell from 28 percent to 13.8 percent over the past 27 years, with two-thirds of the decline occurring since 1998.
Pessimists are in the corner, sobbing and/or catatonic.
Hat-tip: Steve Silberman.
![](https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/promised-land-hplead.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=450)